And mother almost always sighs,When father carves the duck....Then all of us prepare to rise,And hold our bibs before our eyes,And be prepared for some surprise,When father carves the duck.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

I once heard a woman laugh at that most tragic moment in all drama, the off-stage shot in "The Wild Duck," and I afterward had her... killed, so there will be no more of that out of her.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

The whole story of the universe is implicit in any part of it. The meditative eye can look through any single object and see, as t...hrough a window, the entire cosmos. Make the smell of roast duck in an old kitchen diaphanous and you will have a glimpse of everything, from the spiral nebulae to Mozart's music and the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi. The artistic problem is to produce diaphanousness in spots, selecting the spots so as to reveal only the most humanly significant of distant vistas behind the near familiar object.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Among all the emotions, the rich have the least talent for love. It is possible to love one's dog, dress or duck-shooting hat, but... a human being presents a more difficult problem. The rich might wish to experience feelings of affection, but it is almost impossible to chip away the enamel of their narcissism. They take up all the space in all the mirrors in the house. Their children, who represent the most present and therefore the most annoying claim on their attention, usually receive the brunt of their irritation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

The nearest the modern general or admiral comes to a small-arms encounter of any sort is at a duck hunt in the company of corporat...ion executives at the retreat of Continental Motors, Inc.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »